The Tenured Husband: A Flash Marriage Story

I had a flash marriage. My bargain of a husband is a college professor, 29 years old, with a PhD.

Hes rich, gorgeous, and has tenure.

The key point is: he has a car, a house, and no parents to deal with.

My mom said a top-tier catch like him is like hitting the jackpot.

I was momentarily blinded by his good looks, and after just half a month of blind dating, we got our marriage license.

But half a month into the marriage, I regretted it.

He is too cold, our differences are too vast, and we have absolutely nothing to talk about.

He sleeps early, wakes up early, leaves early, and comes home early.

I sleep late, wake up late, and am basically nocturnal.

The day we got our license, I was on my period, and he consciously went to sleep in the guest room.

Half a month into our marriage, weve been living like platonic roommates.

I didn't want to live like a nun anymore.

After hesitating for a long time, I prepared to go find Elias Thorne to talk about divorce.

Just as I reached the door of his office, a young female student beat me to it, knocking and walking in.

"Why are you closing the door? Leave it open."

Elias's voice carried a hint of irritation.

The young girl, looking wronged, opened the door back up. I stood in the doorway, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

"Hey, if it's nothing major, I'd advise you to come back another day."

The girl sighed, kindly warning me.

I stood there, a little curious and a little surprised.

"Professor Thorne, have you looked at my thesis? I need your signature in the final column..."

Inside the office, Elias was wearing a black dress shirt that outlined his tall, athletic build, the cuffs rolled up to his elbows, revealing a pair of veined, strong wrists.

He flipped through a thesis, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"With what youve written here, even George Washington wouldnt dare sign his name on this.

"I asked you to submit a rough draft, not a brain dump.

"The title is nice. It uses the entire English alphabet, but put together, I don't understand a word of it."

I stood there, completely dumbfounded.

Half a month into our marriage, the number of conversations Elias and I had could be counted on one hand, not to mention he naturally had a man-of-few-words personality.

I never expected that a man who looked so refined and elegant could have such a venomous tongue.

When intellectuals insult people, it truly is on another level...

He flipped through the pages, his face growing darker.

"What is this formatting? Did you invent it yourself?

"Take a guess at my mental state when I read this part?

"I feel like your mind was completely blank.

"What exactly are you researching?

"Remove my name from the acknowledgments. Don't try to morally blackmail me.

"Do you still want to graduate?"

The young girl stood there, looking like she was about to cry.

Help, the sheer terror of being dominated by a graduation thesis instantly washed over me. It was hard not to empathize.

Moreover, what shocked me was that a man who usually treated his words like gold around me could actually speak this much!

With a cold face, he slammed the thesis onto the desk and, upon lifting his eyes, locked gazes with me.

He looked slightly surprised for a moment. "Chloe, why are you here?"

His expression softened as he walked over to me and took my hand.

"Why didn't you come in?"

The female student looked at me like I was her savior, her eyes suddenly filled with pure gossip.

I awkwardly raised my hand and gave a little wave.

Elias glanced at her and introduced me:

"Your professor's wife."

The young girl instantly turned into a gossip-hungry hound.

"Hello, Mrs. Thorne!"

"Wow, Professor, you're married..."

"You look so young."

"When did you guys tie the knot?"

Elias unhappily reminded her:

"If you put this much energy into your studies, your thesis wouldn't read like a Wattpad fanfiction."

"Sorry to bother you, Professor. I'll take my leave now..."

She left, leaving just the two of us in the office.

Staring at each other, things felt inexplicably awkward again.

"How did you find the time to come by today?"

He looked at me, his voice softening a few degrees.

I couldn't quite gauge his mood. After hesitating for a moment, I felt now was not the right time to bring up divorce.

"Just... passing by..."

I lied.

The corners of his lips hooked up into a smile, and he raised his hand to pat my head.

"I just got off work. Let's go home."

Elias is tall, with chiseled, model-like features. Paired with those gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, his unapproachable, ascetic vibe was pushed to the absolute max.

With just one smile and a head pat, my resolve began to waver.

With a face like that, getting a divorce feels like taking a massive loss...

He held my hand as we walked out of the office, bumping into a few colleagues who were also leaving for the day.

He nodded politely, smiling as he introduced me.

"Yes, my wife."

"Yes, we just got the certificate. We'll invite everyone to the wedding."

Blushing, I got into the car with him.

The ride was quiet.

As a chatterbox, I really couldn't stand this kind of atmosphere, so I took the initiative to break the ice:

"Um, why are you so strict with your students?"

He sighed helplessly. "They're too dumb..."

"When you tutored me on my thesis back then, you weren't this mean..."

Elias was a former student of my dad's. Though I hadn't seen him much, his name was legendary in our house.

A genius boy who skipped grades continuously, a brilliant student who breezed through his Master's and PhD, a rare young talent.

My dad spent his life cultivating brilliant minds everywhere, but sadly, the one he grew at home was a total dud.

Me. I've been a terrible student since childhood.

I went to a bottom-tier state college for my undergrad, bombed my grad school entrance exams, and went abroad to buy a fluff Master's degree.

Back then, after reading my thesis, my dad's blood pressure spiked. Out of desperation, he handed me over to Elias.

At that time, Elias corrected my work word by word, incredibly patient.

Now that he's a professor himself, he's totally changed his tune.

He suddenly smiled, his voice deep:

"You're different."

As he spoke, he parked the car in front of a pharmacy.

"Wait for me a second, I need to buy something."

I was a bit curious: "Are you sick?"

Could it be that he got so mad at his student today that he needed to buy blood pressure meds?

He didn't answer, just gave me an unreadable glance.

He wasn't gone long before returning, and I couldn't even see what he had bought.

We drove home in silence, and as soon as we walked in, he went straight to the kitchen to cook.

I have to admit, this habit of Elias's is truly wonderful.

Even though I often sleep until noon, there are always fresh meals in the fridge every day.

His cooking skills are great, and soon, several dishes were placed on the table.

Garlic shrimp with broccoli, beef with enoki mushrooms, tomato and egg stir-fry, and a zucchini soup.

All my favorites.

I buried my head and ate while he continuously put more food into my bowl.

"That's... that's enough..."

I was getting a bit too full before he finally stopped.

"Okay."

Another bout of silence.

I silently sighed in my heart. He really just doesn't share a common language with me.

I still don't think I can live like this.

After dinner, he silently cleared the table and did the dishes, while I turned and went to the bathroom to wash up.

While showering, I thought long and hard about how to bring up the divorce.

The steam clouded the room, and my brain felt a bit deprived of oxygen.

Reaching out to grab my towel, I lost my focus for a second. My foot slipped, and with a heavy thud, I crashed onto the floor.

I let out a miserable shriek, tears springing to my eyes from the pain.

I felt like my entire body was shattered...

"Chloe, what's wrong?"

Elias's anxious knocking sounded from outside the door.

It hurt so much I couldn't even speak properly.

"Chloe, are you okay? I'm coming in."

"I..."

Realizing I was still naked, I panicked through the pain.

"I slipped, don't..."

Before I could finish, he actually opened the door and rushed in.

The moment our eyes met, I watched his face visibly flush red all the way down to his neck.

My face instantly burned up, and I didn't know which parts of myself to cover first.

"Elias, you... you..."

Realizing he had lost his composure, he coughed lightly.

He quickly pulled down a bath towel, wrapped my entire body in it, and carried me into the bedroom.

He gently placed me on the bed, looking worried:

"Where did you get hurt?"

I clutched the towel tightly, my face flushed.

"My foot."

As my gaze fell to my foot, I instantly wanted the earth to swallow me whole out of sheer embarrassment.

Maybe I slipped too hard, but right now, my shower slipper was shoved completely past my heel and wedged tightly onto my ankle...

Elias clearly wanted to laugh, but he held it in.

"I bought them a size too big. I'll get you a better pair tomorrow," he explained.

He placed his hand on the slipper. "Let's get the shoe off first."

And so, both of us pulling with all our might, we began the "Great Slipper Extraction."

I was nervous and mortified. We struggled for a long time, but the shoe remained firmly stuck.

"It's too tight."

He sighed helplessly, guiding me.

"Chloe, relax a bit, keep your foot straight."

Me: ...

God, just destroy me right now...

A few minutes and several attempts later, it finally came off...

Elias half-knelt in front of me, massaging my foot.

"Can you move it?"

His slightly messy bangs fell over his forehead, and his glasses hid his downward gaze.

I moved my foot, blushing. "It's fine now..."

It hurt terribly when I first fell, but now that the shock passed, it was much better.

He gently rubbed my ankle. As he slowly looked up, I met his eyes.

I couldn't help but feel flustered and awkward again.

Especially right now, when he wasn't speaking, the atmosphere was indescribably weird.

Unable to bear it any longer, I took a deep breath and tentatively spoke up:

"Elias, why don't we... get a divorce..."

His hands stopped, and his gaze darkened:

"Chloe, what did you just say?"

I avoided his eyes. "I said... divorce..."

He stood up with a cold face, casting a shadow over me.

He closed his eyes briefly, but it couldn't hide the anger brewing beneath them.

"Chloe, do you think marriage is a game?"

I twisted my fingers tightly, feeling a bit guilty:

"But we... we're clearly not a good match..."

"How are we not a good match?"

"We're not a match in any way. We don't even act like a married couple..."

He kept his cold face, didn't say a word, turned around, and walked out.

I was stunned for a moment.

Before I could even process it, he actually came right back.

Then, he tossed a small box onto the bed.

Me: ???

"E... Elias, what are you doing?"

His shirt was already gone. I only glanced up once, and my face felt scalding hot...

His voice was husky:

"We haven't even tried. How do you know we aren't a match?"

"I..."

His glasses bumped against the bridge of my nose, his burning skin contrasting with the cool metal frames.

He quickly took off his glasses. My eyes met Elias's beautiful brow and eyes. It turned out that taking off his glasses made him look a few degrees gentler.

Try it then. A top-tier guy like this, I'm not losing out...

...

Except, three minutes later.

I lay on the bed, somewhat questioning the meaning of life.

All that aggressive buildup like a tiger, only to strike out immediately...

That's it?

Someone covered his eyes, looking humiliated.

"Chloe... it's my first time..."

I forced a bitter smile to comfort him, trying to preserve his final shred of dignity.

Inside, I was losing my mind:

We tried it, are we a match? Do YOU think we're a match?

WTF, divorce, we absolutely must divorce.

I've done good deeds my whole life, I don't deserve this.

His face was flushed red.

"Can we try one more time?"

"Whatever you want..."

I figured I could just grit my teeth and get through it...